ACC Recap for May 8th

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Florida State donned its customary home gold uniforms for Sunday’s critical series-finale against UCF, but it sure did feel like a “Throwback” day at Dick Howser Stadium.

Senior Mike McGee turned in a starting pitching performance reminiscent of his 2009 campaign – limiting the Knights to one hit and a run in seven innings – and helped put a cap on the sixth-ranked Seminoles’ 6-1 victory with a solo home run in the eighth inning.

“Somebody said, `Déjà vu,’ when he hit the ball out of the ballpark,” FSU coach Mike Martin said of McGee. “It seemed that when he pitched on Sunday he hit home run a couple years ago. What was impressive, too, is I could not tell a difference in his fastball from the first inning until the sixth inning. He still had good velocity. He’s a strong young man. … It was a big lift.”

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – Colin Moran capped off another impressive weekend with a 4-for-5, two run and two RBI performance as he helped No. 12 North Carolina (37-10, 16-8 ACC) to an 8-4 series-sweeping win over Maryland (20-32, 5-22 ACC) Sunday afternoon at Boshamer Stadium.

Moran finished the day a triple short of the cycle and nearly completed the cycle in the bottom of the sixth inning when he laced a ball into the right field corner but was cut down at third base attempting to leg out a triple.

The four hits set a career high for the Rye, N.Y., native and his solo home run in the bottom of the eighth gave him 60 RBI for the season putting him in rare company. Moran became just the fourth freshman in UNC history to drive in 60 runs in a season joining Tim Federowicz (62, 2006), Brian Goodwin (63, 2010) and Dustin Ackley (74, 2007).

Boiling Springs, NC – Pitching less than 15 miles from his hometown of Gaffney, SC, graduate righthander Justin Sarratt tossed 6.0 innings without allowing an earned run to lead #16 Clemson to a 5-1 victory over Gardner-Webb in front of a school-record 1,328 fans at John Henry Moss Stadium on Sunday afternoon. The Tigers, who swept the three-game series at two different sites, improved to 32-15, while the Bulldogs dropped to 28-17-1. It was the first-ever meeting between the two teams away from Clemson’s Doug Kingsmore Stadium.

The Tigers jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning, then the Bulldogs scored an unearned run in the second inning. Hits by Will Lamb and Chris Epps drove in one run apiece in the sixth inning, then Richie Shaffer’s solo homer in the eighth inning provided for the final four-run margin for the Tigers, who won their sixth game in a row on the road.

CHICAGO – The 10th-ranked Georgia Tech baseball team (33-14) pounded out 18 hits, and clinched its 10th series of the season with a 10-2 victory over Illinois-Chicago (22-21) Sunday afternoon at Les Miller Field. Monday’s finale has been moved to a 1 p.m. (EST) start.

All nine Tech starters recorded at least one hit to lead the Yellow Jackets to their second largest output of the season. The 18 hits were the most since the squad lashed out 19 against Rutgers on March 4th.

“We swung the bat well today, especially early on,” head coach Danny Hall said. “I thought I saw it coming late in the game last night. We made some adjustments in practice this week [mainly shortened our swings] and it was good to see all our guys get in there and get some hits.”

Coral Gables, FL – David D’Errico pitched six innings of five-hit ball and Jeff Guthridge went the final three innings without allowing a hit as the Pride upset #14 Miami, 5-0, at Alex Rodriguez Park Sunday afternoon. The win represents the highest-ranked opponent that Hofstra has ever beaten, eclipsing #15 Old Dominion, which the Pride defeated on April 7, 2006.

Hofstra improves to 12-29 with the win, while Miami drops to 31-16.

The Pride scored the only run they would need in the second as Jared Hammer led off the inning with a double down the right field line and following a strikeout, Joe Perez also doubled down the line in right to put the Pride out in front. Hofstra scored a second run in the fifth as Logan Davis reached on an error and went to second on a sacrifice bunt. An infield out moved him to third before Hammer singled to short to make it 2-0.

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Wake Forest completed its first series sweep of the season with a 4-3 victory over Boston College while celebrating Senior Day on Sunday at Gene Hooks Field at Wake Forest Baseball Park.

After the sweep, the Demon Deacons are now 20-26 on the year and sit alone in eighth place in the Atlantic Coast Conference with a 10-14 record in league play. Boston College drops to 16-29 overall and 7-19 in the ACC.

Prior to the first pitch, Wake Forest honored its six seniors – Steven Brooks, Ryan Lloyd, Mark Adzick, Trenton Langston, Eli Robins and student assistant coach Ryan Burke – for their contributions during their four years in a Demon Deacon uniform.

RALEIGH, N.C. — Tarran Senay and Danny Canela each went 3-for-4 with a home run and two RBIs on Sunday, and the NC State bullpen worked 5 1/3 solid innings to lift the Wolfpack past East Tennessee State 8-5 in the final game of a three-game series at Doak Field at Dail Park.

In salvaging the final game of the series, NC State improves to 27-21. ETSU falls to 30-16 with the loss.

After the starting pitchers dominated the first two games of the series, the hitters broke out the bats on Sunday. The teams traded single runs in the first inning — ETSU on an RBI single by Derek Trent and NC State on a single by Canela — but the Wolfpack took control of the game with two runs in the second and three more in the third.

BLACKSBURG, Va. — The Virginia Tech Hokies defeated James Madison, 8-4, in non-conference college baseball action Sunday afternoon at English Field. With the win, the Hokies improve to 28-21 while the Dukes fall to 31-16 overall. Tech earned a split in the two-game series.

Michael Seaborn tied a career-high with a four hit day that included a pair of doubles, two runs scored and an RBI. Jake Atwell also scored two runs, while Tim Smalling drove in two. Chad Pinder had three hits and an RBI, while Tony Balisteri registered his 18th multi-hit game with a double and RBI single.

JMU got things started in the top of the first inning when Jake Lowery doubled to right and scored on a double to left by Alex Foltz.

DURHAM, N.C. – Dennis O’Grady struck out seven and scattered five hits over six innings, and Chase Bebout threw three scoreless frames out of the bullpen to lead Duke past Mount St. Mary’s, 4-1, in game two of Sunday’s double header at Jack Coombs Field.

O’Grady (5-3) gave up just one run to lower his season ERA to 3.77. A senior right-hander, O’Grady has held his last four opponents to two runs or less over at least 5.2 innings. The Floral Park, N.Y., native also made his 22nd consecutive weekend start and surpassed career highs in innings pitched and strikeouts on Sunday.

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